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Exploring art by and about people of African descent, primarily through the lens of books, magazines and catalogs, Culture Type features original research and reporting and shares invaluable interestingness culled from the published record on black art.

A DRAMATICALLY LIT, close-cropped portrait by Rashid Johnson covers the catalog for the African-American Fine Art sale at Swann Auction Galleries on Oct. 4. Johnson’s subject obscures his face with his hands, which are the focus of the image. The gesture is emotional and his fingers—their knuckles and nails and the life-worn wrinkles in between—are full of character.

The Chicago-born, New York-based artist made the photograph using the 19th century Van Dyle printing process, a multi-step undertaking that involved a large-format camera, hand-painting with minerals, and sun drying. “Jonathan with Hands” was featured in “Freestyle,” Thelma Golden’s inaugural exhibition of emerging artists at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2001.

Sylvia Chivaratanond wrote about the photograph in the “Freestyle” catalog and explained how the image came about. “…this recent series focuses on the homeless black men in his immediate surroundings. …while still an undergraduate at Columbia College in Chicago, Johnson started to photograph this often disenfranchised segment of the population,” Chivaratanond wrote.

“What began as a quasi-socio/political project that took him from photographing on the streets to capturing intimate portraits in his studio, ended in this series, which includes ‘Jonathan,’ ‘Jonathan’s Eyes,’ and ‘Jonathan with Hands.'”

“…this recent series focuses on the homeless black men in his immediate surroundings. …while still an undergraduate at Columbia College in Chicago, [Rashid] Johnson started to photograph this often disenfranchised segment of the population.”

Forty-one-year-old Johnson was barely in his 20s when he completed the series. Swann inaugurated its African American fine art auctions in 2007 and traditionally the sales have concentrated on historic art and early and mid-20th century works. Over the past several years, more works by living contemporary artists have appeared in the sales. “Jonathan with Hands” (1997) is the most recently created work to grace the cover of a Swann African-American Fine Art catalog.

THE FORTHCOMING AUCTION includes a wide-range of mediums, photography, along with paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture. There are 185 lots with estimates ranging from $1,000 to $300,000.

The top lots include two sculptures by Elizabeth Catlett, paintings by Beauford Delaney, Eldzier Cortor, Hughie Lee-Smith, Alvin D. Loving Jr., and Sam Gilliam, and “Nobody Knows My Name #1,” a 1965 drawing by Charles White. A retrospective of White opens at the Museum of Modern Art on Oct. 7.

Works by a few other artists with significant exhibitions this fall are for sale, among them, Ed Clark, whose first New York survey in nearly 40 years opens Sept. 14 at Mnuchin Gallery, Dawoud Bey (FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Art), Joseph Delaney (Knoxville Museum of Art), Howardena Pindell (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts), and Augusta Savage (Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens).

Other highlights include works by Emma Amos, Romare Bearden, Melvin Edwards, Daniel LaRue Johnson, Noah Purifoy, Betye Saar, and William T. Williams, along with White, artists featured in “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power.” The groundbreaking exhibition opens Sept. 14 at the Brooklyn Museum.

From Derden’s holdings, the auction features works by Pindell, Willie Cole, Robert Colescott, and Kara Walker. The Johnson photograph that appears on the front of the catalog is also from the collection, as are lots by Bey, Lorna Simpson, and Carrie Mae Weems. CT

The original owner of this sculpture was Sarah West. According to Swann, she “was a close friend of Augusta Savage; she taught textiles, block prints and metal crafts at the Harlem Community Art Center during the WPA period (1937 -1942) when Savage was the director.”

Artist Charles White, the original owner of this sculpture, was married to Elizabeth Catlett when she made it. According to Swann, “This artwork has never been exhibited publicly before and is the earliest sculpture by the artist to come to auction.”

According to Swann, Al Loving Jr., wrote “this painting Variations on a Square was done as part of my graduation thesis show. It was one of the very last oil paintings I did. …it was the forerunner to the geometric abstractions that started my career in N.Y.”

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2 comments

I’m so impressed with your website and the coverage of art and culture of people of color. I’m a photographer with a few credits involved in film, television and documentary films in and around artist. I use the site to know more about the people that hold the position of Black art is art and we need to be heard and exposed to the masses in every available light.

I’m also Thankful of the curators and instituions I read about that are promoting the arts of our culture, we are on the move and making strides that I would have not known about without your commitment to the art world.

Thanks to your platform you and your colleagues are making it possible for so many, I do want to add that hopefully I will see my work and contributions get some accolades before i’m off the planet…Smiling!!

I have friends in the art world that have also led me to know your work and dedication.

Support Culture Type

Do you enjoy and value Culture Type? Please consider supporting its ongoing production by making a donation. Culture Type is an editorially independent solo project that requires countless hours and expense to research, report, write, and produce. To help sustain it, make a one-time donation or sign up for a recurring monthly contribution. It only takes a minute. Many Thanks for your support.

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